Severely overstretchedBritain has some 7,100 troops in southern Iraq, mostly stationed in and around Basra. The city, Iraq’s second biggest, remains dangerous with Shiite factions battling each other for control and British troops sometimes targeted.

British generals fear their troops are already being severely overstretched as they are also involved in fierce fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“The Achilles’ heel of every single major Western nation is that they don’t have enough soldiers,” defense analyst Charles Heyman told Reuters.

“We are not about to lose control of Basra but it’s possible the coalition could actually lose control of Baghdad in the next three months,” he said. “The tragedy about the 20,000 Americans is it’s too little, too late.”

The United States knew it couldn’t ask for more British troops because “the British army is totally extended to its absolute limit,” he said.

Welcoming Bush’s announcement, Beckett said it showed the determination of the U.S. and Iraqi governments to deal with the security situation.

“We are under way with a process of handover as the security situation on the ground improves,” she said. “We will make our judgments and decisions depending on the progress of those events. That’s been the case in the past, it’s the case now.”

Last month British and Iraqi forces stormed and destroyed the headquarters of the serious crimes unit in Basra after learning prisoners were about to be executed. The unit had long been accused of involvement in murders, attacks on coalition forces and kidnappings in the southern oil city.